While Strolling Through the Park One Day
by monkeymouse
Summary: An unlikely meeting of two old friends... Cho Chang/Ginny Weasley slash


WHILE STROLLING THROUGH THE PARK ONE DAY  
  
by monkeymouse  
  
f/f (g/c), inc, exh  
  
starring those two lovable and very off stereotypes:  
  
slut!ginny and delicate-little-china-doll!cho  
  
##  
  
Why hadn't I thought to come here before? Cho Chang asked herself as she slowly walked through Hyde Park. It was one of the few really bright, sunshine April days in England, and she found she enjoyed it more than she thought she would. It was certainly better than the crowded cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley. In the five years since graduation, she'd hardly left the street, hardly left her family. Ever since the Tri-Wizard Tournament, her life had been a series of calamities, which conspired together to keep her close to home.  
  
But not today. The family shop, which dealt in traditional Chinese medicines and spells, was closed, as was all of Diagon Alley, for Potter Day. That wasn't what it was called, of course; officially it was the anniversary of the Battle of Little Hangleton, where a small group of wizards and witches, led by the young Harry Potter, finally destroyed Lord Voldemort once and for all–destroyed him so completely that there was no chance at all of his being revived again. Both the wizarding world and the Muggle world had been rescued, although it had cost a terrible price.  
  
I wish this was a History of Magic class, Cho sighed as she sat on a bench, remembering in spite of herself. I wish I was hearing Professor Binns drone on and on in that ghostly voice of his. I wish this was about some goblin uprising in the Fifteenth Century. I wish–I wish I hadn't known so many people who've died.  
  
Cho sat on a bench, closed her eyes and tried to settle her mind by telling herself one of the old Chinese legends of her youth; the one about the rebellious monkey who invaded a dinner party in Heaven and drank the Elixir of Immortality…  
  
"CHO! IS THAT YOU?!"  
  
Cho was smiling even before she opened her eyes. She recognized the voice after a single word: Ginny Weasley! Jaunty, good-looking, with more than a little of the mischief of her twin brothers, Ginny was something of a "good- time girl" during her last years at Hogwarts. Those last years included a six-month liaison with Cho, who had never been happier than when she was in the arms of the vivacious redhead. But, like every affair Ginny entered into, it didn't last. Their six-month affair was followed by another six months, when Cho had to learn to forgive Ginny for deserting her.  
  
But Cho had passed through that barrier too, and now stood beaming like the sun above them as her onetime lover ran to embrace her. Ginny was slowed up only a bit by the knapsack she had on her back. They hugged each other close, kissing each other on the cheek, Cho's hands reaching around and feeling the knapsack.  
  
Whatever was in the knapsack moved.  
  
Cho didn't try to disguise the curious look on her face as Ginny laughed. "I guess you two haven't been introduced," she laughed, as she turned to show Cho that she was actually wearing a baby carrier. "Meet Rose Weasley, newest member of the clan. She's only about three months old. Almost a Christmas baby, in fact."  
  
The baby carrier doubled as a seat; Ginny slid it off with Cho's help and set it on the bench, with Rose at one end and Cho at the other. "So what have you been doing with yourself?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Not as much as you," Cho smiled. "After graduation I just sort of stayed around my parents' shop. I pretty much run the place now. After my Granny died, mum and dad sort of semi-retired. It hit them rather hard, and they wanted to take the time to do some traveling, get re-acquainted. That left me to tend the store, but I don't mind."  
  
"Yeah, you've really been a stay-at-home type. Damn shame, if you ask me. I still remember when you were the best Seeker at Hogwarts. We all thought you'd turn pro."  
  
Cho shook her head. "I just … couldn't; not after the Tournament. Every inch of the place reminded me of him."  
  
"Him" was Cedric Diggory, who played for Hufflepuff House. He and Cho Chang had fallen in love during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, at the end of which Cedric was dead, killed on orders from Lord Voldemort.  
  
"But, you're over him now, right?"  
  
"I suppose," Cho sighed. "At least, I don't wake up screaming and reaching for him anymore. But those last two years at Hogwarts–I couldn't even look at a broom. And by the time I was over him, I'd graduated. Nobody remembered whether I was a good Seeker or not. Frankly, I like it like that."  
  
"I still say it's a waste." Ginny was interrupted by Rose speaking up, trying to get her mother's attention. "And who do you think you are, butting in on your mommy and an old friend?" Ginny's nose rubbed against the baby's as she undid the straps of the carrier. "You always have to be the center of attention, don't you? Of course you do." As Cho watched, Ginny balanced Rose on one arm; with the other hand, she unbuttoned her blouse, pulled it open, opened the panel on a nursing bra to show a red and swollen nipple, and shifted Rose so that she could suck milk from the breast. She did all this easily, almost mechanically.  
  
Cho found her mouth had suddenly gone dry. "You, er, didn't used to wear bras."  
  
"I know. I hate 'em. But you wash the milk stains out of enough blouses and you get the idea." A smile played across Ginny's lips. "She's almost as good at it as you were, y'know."  
  
Cho blushed and looked away. Ginny cursed herself; it was too much too soon. She should have remembered Cho's oh-so-proper upbringing: a mix of Confucius and Queen Victoria. It was miracle enough that Cho had taken a lover at all, let alone her…  
  
Cho, meanwhile, was cursing her own embarrassment. Ginny knew I was staring, she told herself; but I couldn't help it. For her to just … in public … well, people make allowances for a baby, I guess. If it had been me–no! Stop it Cho!"  
  
Cho turned her attention back to Rose, whose little mouth kept up a steady rhythm as she drew the milk from her mother. There wasn't much red hair, but the little on her head was fine as gossamer. "So, who's the lucky father?"  
  
Ginny's face turned curiously bitter. "That's a funny way to put it."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You didn't ask about my husband."  
  
"I didn't see a ring, so I didn't think you had one."  
  
"Still the Ravenclaw, I see."  
  
"And you still evade topics you don't want to talk about."  
  
Ginny sighed and looked down at Rose, not saying anything for a minute. Rose had stopped feeding, leaving the nipple exposed, puffed and bright red. After a minute, Ginny closed up the bra and the blouse, set Rose over her shoulder and tapped her back to make her burp. Only after that was done, and Rose was strapped back in her seat, did Ginny speak to Cho again. "I'm telling you this only because I doubt I'll see you again for another five years."  
  
"Ginny, I don't understand."  
  
"You will. About a year ago, I went up to Manchester to visit the twins. They were opening up another branch of the joke shop. Dad and the others have pretty much given them up for lost, so I thought somebody should show the flag and let them know they had a family.  
  
"The opening was on a Friday afternoon, and that night we went out drinking, and drinking, and drinking some more. I suppose we should have been ready to pass out by the time I got them back to their hotel room, but they were still ready to go. And, to tell the truth, so was I. I hadn't been with anyone in months; and they seemed just as hard-up as I was. So…"  
  
This fact was so colossal that Cho actually stopped thinking. All she could do was stare at Ginny as though she were from another planet. "You and your brothers…"  
  
"You know the old saying, any old port in a storm. And, to tell the truth, I'd had fantasies for years about doing one of my brothers. The way they went at it, they'd probably had the same about me. And for about forty- eight straight hours, we definitely went at it. I'd never done double insertion before, so I had a chance to cross that one off my list."  
  
Cho was still speechless. Ginny went on, sounding like a game-show announcer on the WWN: "That's right, everybody, and as a wonderful parting gift, they gave me that special little sperm that turned into Rose Weasley!" She started applauding slowly, bitterly. Cho grabbed Ginny's hands to stop her.  
  
"Does your family know?"  
  
"Mum always knows everything; don't ask me how."  
  
"Mothers always do," Cho smiled.  
  
"Yeah, well, mine asked me who the father was at five minute intervals starting when I missed my first period. She just didn't let up. I kept refusing to talk about it. Maybe she just waited until Rose was born and counted backwards. Last month she finally asked me flat-out if this was the twins' handiwork. I was…tired; I didn't want to argue with her about it anymore. I said yes. You can imagine how well that went over. The upshot is, my parents threw me and the baby out of the Burrow. Said I could start my own 'family of freaks', as she put it, because I wasn't one of their…" Tears had started running down Ginny's face. Cho reached for her; drew Ginny's head to her own chest. The sobs came freely from Ginny as Cho held her.  
  
After a few minutes, Ginny was composed enough to speak: "Damn it all, why did I do that? I HATE crying in public."  
  
"Where are you staying?"  
  
"I've been house-sitting for a school friend, but they'll be back tomorrow. I'm running out of options, and I don't want to have to go through the Spanish Inquisition all over again."  
  
Cho had already made up her mind when she asked the question. Ginny had barely finished her answer when she said: "Live with me."  
  
"Are you sure?" she sniffed.  
  
"When you came along I was thinking about the friends we lost at Little Hangleton; I was thinking about my Granny; I was thinking about Cedric. I'm tired of living with ghosts, Ginny. I want to bring life back into my life. We can turn Granny's old room into a nursery for Rose; it gets the sun at the end of the day."  
  
"And where am I supposed to sleep?"  
  
"Where you've always been meant to sleep, my love. The time for parties is over now. You need to be with people who'll love you and Rose."  
  
"And … your parents … will they …"  
  
"They'll let you stay if I ask them to let you stay. Besides, in time I think even your parents will come round." Cho looked over at Rose, sleeping in the sun. "No matter what they said, they know they have a beautiful little granddaughter waiting for them. We have to care for her and love her until that day."  
  
Ginny started to speak again; Cho put a finger on Ginny's lips to silence her. She then gently kissed the tears under Ginny's eyes.  
  
Ginny's lips were more direct, more avid. She kissed Cho on the mouth, and Cho returned the kiss eagerly, willingly … publicly.  
  
Cho broke their kiss only when they heard Rose stirring in her seat. The baby was awake and reaching out toward a butterfly that bobbed near the child. The monkey got it wrong, Cho smiled; I've found the real Elixir of Immortality.  
  
##  
  
done in about 6 hours, 23 April 2002 


End file.
